Fred
by DanielDuus
Summary: The year is 1987. William is desperatly trying to find out what happened to his brother. While the creations of an experienced inventor goes horribly wrong.


2AM. The red glow of the alarm clock is blinding William in the dark room. The only other light source is the faint moonlight coming in from the window near the bed. Waking up in the middle of the night is a rare thing for William. His work as a Lawyer is time consuming and he sleeps like a stone every day and only wakes up when the alarm clock rings in the early morning.

His wife is laying next to him, beautiful as she is with her long blonde hair even while sleeping it looks like she has a smile on her face. Their anniversary is in a few weeks and William had something big planned. As his mind dwells on the anniversary, it's brought to a sudden hold as the phone down stairs starts ringing. Who could it be at this hour? He thought to himself as he made his way down the small set of stairs to answer.

"Hello? Hello?" says William, but there is only a faint static noise in the background. "Is this a prank call? Please don't call this number again" A faint voice, that was barely noticeable due to the static, could be heard in the other end of the phone "Body found…. Utah…. 87 station Road…" William knew exactly where this was. The home of his brother Fred. But who made the call? It sounded like someone speaking into a police radio through one of their cars to report incidents to the station. This shouldn't be possible. Before William could say another word, whoever called hung up.

Williams wife Maria came down the stairs in her night dress. "Who was it honey?" "I have no idea… I think someone was just prank calling, don't worry about it" Working as a lawyer, he was good at keeping a straight face. Even if he was worried about the call, he wouldn't want to upset next morning William decided to call Fred. Even though the two never had the best relationship, it's better to be safe than sorry.

The phone kept ringing and ringing but no one picked up. Fred was a mechanic, working close to his house. Maybe he just started early that day or stayed the night . He enjoyed his job a lot so it's a possibility.

William calls the garage immediately after. The phone only rings twice before the boss picks up. "Hello who is this?" The place wasn't open at this hour so he did sound quite grumpy. "Hello I know that you are unaware of who I am but you know my brother Fred; he works for your company" "Oh yes he does, I wasn't aware Fred even had a brother or at least he never spoke of you" said the boss with a surprised tone. "No I figured as much" said William. "I was wondering if Fred came in early today or if he worked overtime, he didn't pick up when I called him" said William as his heart rate slowly began to rise, fearing the worst."He seemed a bit off the last couple of days so I gave him a week off work. He's been working more than usual so I thought giving him some time off was well deserved we don't have much to do in the next month anyway." the boss replied. William felt a bit of relief but he still couldn't convince himself that Fred was well. "Thank you. It was nice talking to you." "No problem" the boss replied politely "If he shows up i'll call you right back".

Hours had gone by at this point and William had still not received a phone call from Fred's boss. Not a word from Fred either, despite the countless messages that were left for him on his answering machine. The paranoia eventually got the best of him and at 8pm that evening he decided to go visit Fred in Utah. Maria liked the idea but unfortunately she was going to be busy most of the weekend so she couldn't come. After William got off the phone with his assistant and explained the situation, he packed a bag full of clothes and essentials; as he would need a good nights sleep. After all he would have to set off very early Thursday morning if he were to make it to Utah before Friday.

It was an hour from the border to the hotel William was staying at, he may not have had the best of relationships with Fred, but it was still common courtesy to not go banging on his door at 11PM after not speaking for 3 years. Arriving at a small hotel at the outskirts of town he quickly got inside and booked a room. Spending what felt like a week in his room It was time to get out of bed and head over to Fred's. William was struggling to find Fred's house. Even though he had the address his sense of direction was one of his weak spots. Several wrong turns later he made it to the house. It was unusual that there were no lights on. It was only 10 AM on a Friday. Maybe its just the paranoia kicking in again. William had made his way to the front door of his brothers house, although; he only found himself knocking on the door to no avail, Instead, he hoped to get information of his brother's whereabouts from one of the neighbours.

The house next to Fred's almost looked identical; other than the fact that the house looked welcoming and the garden was spotless. An elderly woman answered the door, cautious at first, she kept the latch on and peeked through the small gap between the door and its frame. "Can I help you?" she asked. "I was wondering whether you've seen Fred, I'm his brother from Kansas, my name is William. "Oh you mean the young man in number eighty-seven" Said the lady. " Yes" William replied, " I came to visit for the weekend but i've had no answer, did he mention anything to you about going anywhere?" "No, i'm sorry" the lady answered. "He didn't mention anything, but it's freezing outside, would you like to come in for a coffee? Maybe there's at least something I can help with". William accepted the offer and followed the old lady into the living room. He sat down in an old armchair in the corner, the screeching of the kettle in the kitchen broke the silence around the house. "Would you like any sugar in your coffee?" the woman shouted from the kitchen. "No its fine" William shouted back.

"I never caught your name" said William as he took a sip of the hot coffee the lady had brought him. "Oh i'm sorry my name is Claire" As William put the cup back down on the table, noises could be heard from the basement. Claire noticed his interest in the sounds and got up from her chair to shut the door. "We have an awful lot of rats down there it's such a mess, the basement has been empty since my husband passed away about a month ago. He spent a lot of time down there doing his work "I'm very sorry to hear that" William replied "What exactly did he work with if you don't mind me asking?"

"My husband Paul, worked as an engineer for a big company just outside of Utah. He was always considered a smart man, both by friends and his co-workers. When it was time for him to retire, he couldn't really give up his work completely, so he began inventing. He invited people over to see his inventions every now and then, it was all very entertaining. Last year he made a small talking doll that could walk by itself. It was according to him, one of his finest inventions, he would always talk about it to everyone. One day he got a phone call from someone who seemed interested in his work. Paul didn't hesitate in asking him to come over and see the inventions for himself. Surely enough, a few days later the man arrived. I never actually heard what they were talking about. I thought he was just another fanatic with an interest for inventions. However several hours had passed and the man finally left.

Paul came up the stairs, eager to let me know that a local restaurant wanted him to create some kind of mascots. They had to be very big and be able to move around, they would need a costume as well. A very big project according to Paul. Since then he spent hours upon hours in the basement every day, he only came up to eat or sleep i was afraid that he would work himself to death. I never went down in the basement while he was working, those things never interested me. People were coming and going regularly though, they always used the door in the basement to enter so I don't know who they were but I assume they were from the pizzeria; checking up on how things were progressing.

One day I heard a knock on the front door and the man who showed up the first time told me that the job was cancelled but they would continue the development elsewhere. I was of course very confused to why they would suddenly stop. Paul came up from the basement a few hours later explaining to me that apparently the prototypes he made were unstable and didn't serve the purpose they were designed for. According to Paul they worked perfectly fine and he didn't see the issue. In the end they agreed to make a deal that Paul got the money for making the prototypes and that the restaurant would get their own engineers to continue the work. Paul kept some of the prototypes himself to continue the development.

I don't know how far he got. You see a few days later he didn't come up from the basement. I was worried but I thought he fell asleep and I wouldn't disturb him so I went to bed and kept the light on if he came up later. I got woken up by sirens outside of the house and the police yelling that I should open the door. They didn't have the patience to wait for me to get down stairs. They kicked in the door and I could hear them run straight into the basement. I was of course terrified as an officer charged into the bedroom and asked me to remain calm. Scared out of my mind I asked "Why are you here, what happened" The officer could immediately hear the panic in my voice."

"Ma'am your husband is dead" The words echoed inside my mind. I could not believe it. "Dead? How? He never left the house, did someone break in?" "We don't know what happened yet but we need you to remain calm and co-operate"

"So what happened to him?" William asked. "I honestly don't know my dear and I don't think I will ever know. After the officer was done asking me some silly questions, they took the body in an ambulance and left. I called them regularly to get some clarification on what happened but they kept saying they will keep the body until they figure it out."

"Do you believe they are hiding something from you? It shouldn't take too long to identify the cause of death." said William with a determined look on his face. "I don't know dear I just hope one of these days i'll get a phone call. Oh, look at the time.I didn't mean to hold you up for so long." William raised his hand to look at his watch. Almost 1 PM. "It's fine. Maybe my brother returned home in the meantime. It was nice meeting you Claire."

William still in deep thought over the fate of Paul made his way towards Freds house. Knocking on the door gave the same result as last time and after twenty minutes of endless waiting in the car, he finally gave up. Not knowing what his next move would be he, pondered over what exactly Paul had made. Who killed him? And why? Since Fred didn't seem like he would return anytime soon, he took out his map from the glove box to figure out where the police station was located. It was about a fifteen minute drive.

The police station would close within the next thirty minutes. William knew he didn't have long. Luckily for him there was a parking spot close to the entrance. He made his way inside and walked up to the desk. An older officer made some notes he had gathered from the computer screen next to him. He looked startled when he noticed William standing next to his desk. clearly very concentrated with his work. "Can I help you?" asked the officer. "Yes" William replied. "My name is WIlliam Hall and I would like to…" "Brother of Fred Hall?" The officer said with a serious look on his face." "I need you to follow me Mr Hall. We called your home address several times today but we never got a reply. You live at number nineteen Creswell Drive, in Kansas am I right?" Said the officer as both himself and William made their way into the nearest interrogation room. "Yes that's correct" Said William with a frightened look on his face.

"I hope you don't mind that I record this conversation William, said the officer. "No, that's fine" he replied, anxious as to what the officer has to tell him. "Before we begin. I assume you know your rights?" "Yes" William replied bluntly. "Where were you on Thursday the 12th of this month?" The officer asked firmly. "I left home early so i could be here before the weekend began to visit my brother, why? Am I in trouble? Is my brother okay?!" William raised his voice and leant forward. "i'm sorry to inform you, but your brother Fred has died. We are investigating the cause of his death". Said the officer with empathy in his voice. William froze. Everything the officer said in the next few minutes, fell completely on deaf ears, he zoned out of everything. He sat staring, expressionless at the mirrored glass on the other side of the room. Everything began to come back into focus as he heard nothing but the muffled voice of a man. "William, may we continue?" " Yes, of course" he stuttered as he snapped back into the conversation. "Good, it's getting late" "Why did you decide to visit your brother" The officer asked. William knew exactly why that question was brought up. He couldn't be completely truthful or he might get in trouble. "I haven't seen my brother in a very long time so I took a few days off to visit him." "That's fair enough I guess." The officer replied. "For the time being we need you to remain in the city until we get all the details about your brothers death. Do you have a place to stay?" "Yes" William replied"

"Is it possible for me to see the body?" said William bluntly, clearly catching the officer off guard.  
"Not at this point in time. We are not exactly sure what happened yet but when we find out, ill give you a call".

The answer didn't satisfy him at all. He wouldn't get anything else out of the officer. Freds house would be closed off and considered a crime scene. Strangely enough it wasn't marked as one when William first went there and Claire didn't seem to be aware of it either. He would have to break in if he wanted entry."If you don't have anymore questions for me I would like to make a phone call" William said. "Yes you can use the phone at my desk I just need to know how and where I can reach you and then we are all done. After exchanging contact details with the officer, he could finally leave the interrogation room. He quickly made his way over to the phone on the desk, picked it up and dialed Maria's number. The conversation was long and painful. Maria hardly knew Fred at all The only things she knew about him were things William had told her. There was a distinctive sad tone in Maria's voice as he told her what he had recently discovered. She didn't ask many questions, the tone of William's voice said it all for her. Before he hung up he asked Maria why she didn't pick up when the officer called. She said the phone never rang. This was the first call she had since William left.

During the trip back to the hotel he turned on the radio. Unsatisfied with the content, he switched between the stations. He found some music to calm his nerves. The short drive also gave William time to reflect on what might have happened. Maybe it was just an accident, then again; maybe it wasn't. All he knew for certain was that Fred was dead and he had no real idea why. The hotel was finally in sight. William drove into the half empty parking lot.  
The music was still playing on the radio but was all of a sudden distorted by a loud static noise, a faint deep voice could be heard. "I need...Found me...No time..." He knew that voice. It was Fred's. In shock, William turned it off and almost ran towards his room. He slammed the door behind him and peeked out of one of the small windows overlooking the street. "This must be some kind of joke" He said to himself.

The time came close to 9 PM. The sun had been gone for a long time and it's been snowing for the last two hours. William began to prepare himself for the trip to Freds house. Ever since he got home he didn't have a quiet moment where his thoughts didn't lead him towards Freds death and the voice in the weather outside was horrible. Snow as far as the eye could see, the wind began to pick up which would make it hard to drive but he was determined to get to his destination and a bit of harsh weather wouldn't stop him.

At long last William arrived at Freds house. It took almost twice the time getting there due to the road conditions and the low visibility. Fred's house had an ominous look when it was dark. All the windows were shut and you could see nothing but the white curtains which made it difficult to peek inside.

William had to go around into the back garden, in hopes of finding an entrance. The cold wind and the snow constantly biting him in the face made the minutes he searched for an entrance almost unbearable. With no luck in finding an entrance that would make his visit go unnoticed, he picked up one of the rocks Fred had laying in a pile next to the shed and smashed one of the windows in the door, giving him just enough reach to open it from the inside. Luckily for him, the door didn't require a key on the inside so with a bit of fiddling and twisting, he managed to get the door open and enter the house.

As William laid his eyes upon the living room, things looked very clean. For a second, he thought the snowstorm outside played tricks on him and he entered the wrong house. This is not how he remember Fred. At least not from when they were kids. Fred never put the things back where they were supposed to be and his clothes got torn after no more than a few weeks after mother bought them for him; but here everything was nice and clean. Not a spot of dust on the furniture. The room had an old fashioned styled tone to it. The long corner sofa up against the back wall and a big table in the middle of the room, large enough for at least 5 people. The kitchen was on the left side of the hallway as he exited the living room, William saw that there were still dishes that had not been cleaned; not to mention the white tiles on the wall above the stove were slightly stained with grease and the frying pan was still sat on the counter with remains of the last meal. It didn't look older than a few days. So it might have been the last meal Fred had before he died.

William went back into the hallway and approached the door leading to the basement. No matter how much he pushed or pulled the door wouldn't open. It didn't feel like it was locked, but more like the handle was jammed. Maybe the police had blocked it off from downstairs so that they only had access to it from the outside entrance. It felt as though something was leaning against the door adding to his theory that the police had it blocked off.

Standing by the foot of the long corner staircase, William had no idea what he would find. The creaking sound that the oak wooden steps gave as he slowly made his way to the next floor could be heard throughout the entire house. The first thing he saw when he got to the end of the stairs was a half open door. Only a faint light could be seen coming from the corner of the room. Nervous about what it could be, William built up the courage and approached the door carefully. With every step he took he could see further into the room. He pushed the door all the way until the reassuring deep bonk could be heard, indicating the door finally made contact with the wall. William moved his hand up and down the wall to locate the lightswitch. As the room lit up, it reminded him his childhood days where he would enter his brother's room and it would look exactly the same. Half of the books from the shelves were spread across the entire room. Mugs and plates were stacked on a desk. William noticed that the computer was still turned on and it was the cause of the light that could be seen from the outside. It was odd that the police officers didn't shut it off after they were done looking it through or they simply just forgot. He took a good look around in the bedroom, not really finding anything interesting except for when he had a closer look at the desk. A book in the middle of the desk with the words "Work diary" written on the front on a small label. It was placed conveniently in the middle of the desk. Fred must have been writing in it recently. Flicking through the first couple of pages gave him no sense of what happened to Fred but when he came to the entries made in December things were about to take a turn that even William would never have seen coming.

December 1st. Angry customers are getting on my nerves. One mistake and those rich snobs with their head so far up their own behind that it makes me sick, just won't stop running their mouth. I really hope Michael can take care of the next few cars, I can't force myself to stay late anymore just to be yelled at the next day when they want to pick up their cars...

December 8th My neighbour Paul invited me in to see some project he made. They were about human sized and made out of some form of metal. He called them endoskeletons. Apparently he wants them to be able talk and even walk. He asked me if i wanted to take part of it since i knew my way around that kind of stuff and I agreed. Hopefully I can get some extra money out of it and it would mean i wouldn't have to work late at the garage.

December 12th We actually did it. We got one of them to walk. We just need to make some adjustments and all of them will be up and walking in no are only prototypes to test the functionality. Paul told me that the ones they are actually going to use are to be made by him and some engineers elsewhere. I'm still not sure what they are going to be used for.

December 16th. Paul is dead. Some of the prototype schematics have been stolen as well but the endoskeletons were still there. I don't know what to do with them but for now i'll leave them here until the police are done with their investigations.

January 5th I took the endoskeletons. These machines are just too amazing to lay in a basement and rust until the end of time. There are a lot of things I can do with them. I still remember some of the notes that Paul made. I asked Claire if she would come in and help me do measurements to give them a more friendly look than the state they are in now.

January 11th For the last couple of days I have heard noises in the middle of the night. I thought it was just outside. But it seems to be coming from my basement. I cant open the basement door to check as it seems to be jammed. I haven't been down there for a while since the noises started.

This was Freds last entry in the diary. Or at least thats what hethought. As he was about to close the diary words began appearing on the empty page next to the last entry. writing with almost unreadable handwriting.

The basement. It's not jammed. I looked through the keyhole... It looked back at me...One of them is holding the door handle. I don't remember... I can see through one of them... I think i'm inside it. I don't know where my body is...

William had no words for what just happened in front of him. This could not be real. He didn't have much time to think about it as the computer screen in front of him opened a file by itself. It was a surveillance program. One camera feed in the middle showing the room he was in right now and some text in the corner letting him browse through different hidden cameras placed around the house. He located the camera in the basement on the screen and clicked on it to zoom in. His fears were confirmed as he could see a big black figure standing next to the basement door holding the handle.

Browsing through more of the cameras showing nothing other than empty half dark rooms. He was afraid and his heart was beating uncontrollably, as he pulled up the basement camera again. It was gone. William froze in fear. In fear of the unknown. He manically went through the cameras. Until he reached the one in the kitchen. There it was. Or was it. It didn't have the same shape as the one he saw in the basement even though it was only a black figure this one looked smaller and the head looked like some kind of animal. It was also wearing a sort of suit. William moved his head closer to the camera feed to get a better look. It looked like someone had been shredding it up. He could see claw marks on different parts of the things body. Some of the endoskeleton inside was visible through the dark green costume. It had a sinister look on its face with an orange sharp beak and bright yellow eyes. From what he could tell it has to be one of the mascots Claire mentioned.

So Claire must have helped Fred make those costumes when he asked for it. But no human can produce such big costumes in such a short amount of time. Unless she knew. She knew everything about Pauls project and must have agreed to help him by working on the suits.  
In Williams frustration, he looked away from the camera in the kitchen. A loud noise could be heard relatively close to Freds room. He browsed through the cameras once again. The green one was still in the kitchen and it wasn't moving so its not possible that it could have made the sound.

William jumped out of his seat and rushed over to the door to close it. As he grabbed the door handle to close the door he saw a head peeking at him from the staircase. It was at least twice his own size. The deep grey eyes were looking straight at him. William was so terrified he didn't even question how it got up on the staircase. It was in the same state as the other one. Torn up and with the skeleton clearly visible in different places. The only difference he could see is that this one had deep grey eyes and the suit is blue. It seemed to have had a beak but it must have been torn off since the mouth area was just a black gaping hole. William finally came to his senses and slammed the door. To his relief, there was a key in the door that he immediately used to lock himself in. He knew this was only a temporary option. William went back into the chair to focus on the screen. Maybe if he knew how they moved he would find an opening to escape. William sat completely still, didn't move a muscle so if it moved again he would be able to hear the footsteps.

As William kept browsing the cameras all of a sudden loud footsteps could be heard charging straight for the room. William rushed into the closest corner in fright as the thing rammed into the door with full force. He could see as the wooden door bent but it remained closed. The footsteps stopped so it either gave up or it was right outside waiting for him to open up which he knew he'd have to do eventually. William got up from the floor and moved over to the desk, he looked at the surveillance cameras once again. He found the camera over-looking the hallway and he was right. It was standing outside, just facing the door. If he opened it, he would be starring it straight in the face.

William looked down at the table not knowing what he was going to do. He noticed the diary had gone completely blank, he thought that he accidentally turned some pages in panic but after manically turning every single page he couldn't find a single word. He looked back up on the screen to find that the thing had moved closer to the camera. It knew William was looking at it. The way it was standing. It was going to try again. It would charge straight into the door as it did before. It wouldn't hold a second time. The footsteps could be heard again. Slowly picking up the pace. It became louder and louder. The diary began aggressively flipping through pages by itself. William, paralyzed in the chair, could only sit and watch as it revealed two words at the very bottom of the last page. It's Me.

Written by:

**Daniel Duus.**

**Cam Ford**.


End file.
